Wrestling head guard



May 26, 1970 D. J. HOLDEN 3,513,432

' WRESTLING HEAD GUARD Filed June ,'26,` 1968 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT OR DAVID J. HOLDEN yEmil/M @umm 524m '5D ATTORNEYS May 26, 1970 D. J. HOLDN 3,513,482

WRESTLING HEAD GUARD Filed June 26, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 8 71 DPMD HOLDEN ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,513,482 WRESTLING HEAD GUARD David J. Holden, Littleton, Mass., assignor to George Frost Company, Shirley, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed June 26, 1968, Ser. No. 740,201 Int. Cl. A63b 71 /10 U.S. Cl. 2--3 5 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to ear-protecting headgear of the type worn by wrestlers, and in one case includes a relatively rigid disk-like core covered internally and externally by soft plastic foam material, a plurality of circumferentially spaced recesses are formed in the exterior covering and the depth thereof corresponds generally to the thickness of head strap and chin strap end portions whereby the end portions when fastened to the core are housed substantially entirely within the recesses.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the disclosure an ear piece is formed solely from an outer disklike element of high density plastic foam material having secured to an inner peripheral portion thereof an annular element of low density plastic foarn material, and means in the form of openings are provided for securing head straps and chin straps to the ear guard. The earpiece may additionally include an annular piece of leather or similar tough material .to prevent the foam material from breaking if the straps are pulled.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a novel ear-protecting head guard which includes a pair of ear guards each of which includes a disk-like core having a peripheral edge portion interiorly and exteriorly covered by exible plastic foam material, a plurality of circumferentially spaced recesses in the exterior covering, and a plurality of head straps having end portions received in and substantially entirely housed by the recesses, and fastening means securing the end portions to eachcore and being internally covered by the interior covering.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel headgear of the type delined heretofore wherein each head strap includes an end portion folded upon itself and fastened within an associated one of the recesses, and means at an opposite end of each head strap for permitting adjustment thereof.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel headgear which includes a pair of ear guards, each of the ear guards being formed from an outer disk-like element of high density plastic foam material having secured to an inner peripheral portion thereof an annular element of low density plastic foam material, and means in the form of apertures through a periphery of the ear guard for securing head straps and chin straps thereto.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood -by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claimed subject matter, and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a novel wrestling head guard constructed in accordance with this invention, and illustrates the manner in which a plurality of head strap end portions are secured in recesses of an outer covering of one of the ear guards.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the headgear, and illustrates the interior configuration of one of the ear guards.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the headgear of FIGS.

3,513,482 Patented May 26, 1970 1 and 2, and illustrates the manner in which the head straps are adjustably secured to one of the ear guards.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along line 4 4 of FIG. 2, and -more clearly illustrates the adjustable securement of one of the head straps to the ear guard and the manner in which the latter is formed from an inner disk-like core of plastic material covered internally and externally by foam plastic.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of another wrestling head guard similar to the illustration of FIG. 2, and illustrates the manner in which head straps are adjustably secured to each of the ear guards by passing through openings formed in the periphery of each ear guard.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the headgear of FIG. 5, and illustrates the ends of the head straps passed through the ear guard openings prior to being secured in an adjusted position thereof.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken generally along line 7-7 of FIG. 5, and more clearly illustrates the manner in which each of the two ear guards is constructed from an outer disk-like element of high density plastic foam material having secured to an inner peripheral portion thereof an annular piece of leather to which is secured an annular element of low density plastic foam. material.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken generally along line 8--8 of FIG. 6, and illustrates the manner in which a snap fastener adapted for securement to a chin strap is secured to one of the ear guards.

A novel wrestling head guard of headgear constructed in accordance with this invention is fully illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4 of the drawings, and is generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The headgear 10 includes a pair of ear guards 11, 12 which are of an identical construction, and the following description of the ear guard 12 will be sufcient for a complete understanding of the ear guard 11.

The ear guard 12 includes a generally disk-like core 13 of plastic material which is of an arcuate configuration and terminates at a peripheral edge portion 14. A covering 15 of low density synthetic plastic vinyl foam material is adhesively or otherwise conventionally secured to an exterior surface of the core 13 while a similar covering 16 is secured to an inner surface of the core 13. An annular covering 17 which is also preferably constructed from low density synthetic vinyl plastic foam material is secured to a peripheral portion (unnumbered) of the covering 16. The annular covering 17 in conjunction with the inner exposed surface of thecovering 17 forms an ear-receiving chamber 18.

The covering 15 is provided along its periphery with a plurality of radially outwardly opening generally rectangular slots or recesses 20 which expose portions of the inner core periphery 14, as is best illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawings. A piece of fabric, cloth, leather or similar material 21 is folded upon itself and an end portion 22 thereof is received within each of the recesses 20 and is secured thereto by fastening means in the form of a rivet 23. Axially aligned openings 24, 25 formed in the coverings 17, 16, respectively, allow the heads of the rivets 23 to be upset into overlying relationship to an interior surface (unnumbered) of the core 13.

One of the plurality of recesses which i-s designated by the reference numeral 26 has secured thereto the male portion 27 of a conventional snap fastener. A female portion 28 of each snap fastener is carried by a buckle 30 adjustably carried by opposite ends 31, 32 of a chin strap 33 having a central chin-protecting pad 34.

Each of the ear guards 11, 12 is also coated with a layer of moisture proof material 35 and a plurality of vent openings 36 are formed in each of the ear guards in the manner best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The ear guards 11, 12 also have secured therebetween a plurality of identical head straps 40 through 43. Since the head straps are identical, only the head strap 40 will be described hereafter.

The head strap 40 is formed from elastic material and includes an end portion 44 (FIG. 1) folded upon itself and received in an associated one of the recesses 20 of the ear guard 11. A fastener 45 secures the overfolded end portion 44 in the recess 20 in the same manner as the fastening means 23 of FIG. 4. In addition, the thickness of the overfolded portion 44 is no greater than the depth of the recess 20, thereby protecting the wearer of the headgear 10 and opponents from projecting edges of the head strap end portion 44.

The opposite end portion of the head strap 40 includes the end portion 22 secured to the ear guard 12, a metallic generally rectangular loop 46 and a head strap end portion 47 which is provided with means 48, 49 for adjustably securing the head strap relative to the loop 46, as shown in FIG. 4. The means 48, 49 consist of a plurality of closely associated rows of ilexible resilient plastic loop hook members and a pile of curly fabric material in the form of kinky strands, respectively, of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,063,718, issued on Nov. 13, 1962, to one Frederick E. Steinkamp.

Reference is now made to FIGS. through 8 of the drawings which illustrate another headgear generally designated by the reference numeral 50 which includes a pair of identical ear guards 51, 52 of which only the ear guard 52 will be described immediately hereafter.

The ear guard 52 includes an outer disk-like element 53 formed from a single piece of high density synthetic plastic foam material, such as vinyl foam, having adhesively secured to an inner peripheral portion 54 thereof an annular piece of leather 59 or similar relatively tearproof material. An annular element 55 of low density and therefore softer vinyl plastic foam is adhesively secured to the element 55. While the annular piece of leather 59 is desirable to prevent the foam from breaking should an opponent forcefully pull the head or chin straps, the leather element 59 may be eliminated and the elements 53, 55 would be adhesively secured directly to each other. The entire ear guard 52 is covered with a coating 56 of moisture impermeable material, and a plurality of vent openings 57 are formed generally in the center of the ear guard, as best illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. The peripheral edge portion of the ear guard 52 also includes a plurality of slots 60 through each of which is passed end portions (unnumbered) of identical head straps 61 through 64. The head straps 61 through 64 have securing means 65, 66 at opposite end portions thereof which are identical to the securing means 48, 49, respectively, of the head gear for adjusting the head straps.

A chin strap 67 is secured to each of the ear guards 51, 52 by identical buckles 68, 69 which snap fasten upon an identical male fastener `70 (FIG. 8) secured to a loop 71 passed through an opening 72 in the peripheral portion 54 of each of the ear guards 51, 52.

Though the material from which the elements 15, 16, 17, 53 and 55 are constructed has not been specifically described heretofore, each of the annular elements .17 and 55 is preferably a vinyl polymer manufactured and sold by the Rubatex Corporation of Bedford, Va., under Stock No. R-314-V having a density (pcf.) of 5.0 and a compression deflection (p.s.i.) of 1.5-4.

The elements 15, 16 are each a vinyl polymer manufactured and sold by the Rubatex Corporation of Bedford, Va., under Stock No. R-SlO-V having a density (p.c.f.) of 5.0 and a compression deection (p.s.i.) of 4-8.

The element 53 is likewise a vinyl polymer manufactured and sold by the Rubatex Corporation of Bedford, Va., under Stock No. R-8407-S having a density (pcf.) of 11-15 and a compression deection of 12-28.

While preferred forms and arrangements of parts have been shown in illustrating the invention, it is to be cearly understood that various changes in details and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure.

What is claimed is:

1. An ear-protecting headgear comprising a pair of ear guards each of which includes a generally disk-like core having a peripheral edge portion, a covering of flexible material on an exterior surface of each core and on an interior surface of each core at least along the peripheral edge portion, a plurality of circumferentially spaced recesses in the exterior covering along said peripheral edge portion, a plurality of head straps each having opposite end portions each of which is positioned in one of said recesses, the depth of said recesses being at least equal to the thickness of said end portions whereby said end portions are housed within said recesses, fastening means securing said end portions in said recesses, said fastening means projecting inwardly through openings in each core beyond the interior surface thereof, said interior covering covering said fastening means, each covering being Idefined by separate disk-like covers of plastic material entirely covering the interior and exterior surfaces of each core, and an additional annular cover being secured to each interior cover along each peripheral edge portion.

2. An ear-protecting headgear comprising a pair of ear guards each of which includes a generally disk-like core having a peripheral edge portion, a covering of flexible material on an exterior surface of each core and on an interior surface of each core at least along the peripheral edge portion, a plurality of circumferentially spaced recesses in the exterior covering along said peripheral edge portion, a plurality of ear guard connecting means each comprising a head band and a corresponding strap loop, one end of each head band is positioned in a respective one of said recesses in the exterior cover of one of said ear guards, each of said strap loops is positioned in a respective one of said recesses in the exterior cover of the other one of said ear guards, the depth of said recesses being at least equal to the thickness of said ends and said strap loops, respectively, whereby said ends and said strap loops are housed within said recesses, fastening means securing said ends and said strap loops in said recesses, said fastening means projecting inwardly through openings in each core beyond the interior surface thereof, said interior covering covering said fastening means, and means between each strap loop and head band for adjusting the length of the latter.

3. The headgear as defined in claim 2 wherein each covering is defined by separate disk-like covers of plastic material entirely covering the interior and exterior surfaces of each core, and an additional annular cover is secured to each interior cover along each peripheral edge portion.

4. An ear guard for athletic head gear comprising an outer disk-like element of high density plastic foam material having directly contactingly secured to an inner peripheral portion thereof an annular element of low density plastic foam material, means for securing head straps to said ear guard, said securing means being openings formed in said inner peripheral portion of said outer disk-like element and said annular element, an end portion of a head strap passed through each opening, and each head strap end -portion including means for adjusting the length of each head strap, said adjusting means being deiined by a rst surface of each head strap provided with a multiplicity of small outwardly projecting loops made of stiff iilamentary material and adjacent thereto at said same surface a multiplicity of curly iilamentary members releasably engageable with said loops.

5. The ear guard as defined in claim 4 including an 5 annular tear resistant exible element sandwiched be- 2,886,818 tween said inner and outer elements. 2,898J 596 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 1,081,611 12/1913 Hazard 2 237 1,997,187 4/1935 Taylor 2 3 Roberts 2 3 Keen 2 3 Piers.

Pukish 2 3 JAMES R. BOLER, Primary Examiner 

